In case of loss the postoffice refunds for common packages at the maximum rate of 71.4 cents per 1.1 pounds, and for a registered package at least $10.
Parcels are handled by the postoffice entirely separate from letters and other mail matter. A request may be sent to the postoffice on an unfranked postal card to call for a package, whereupon the parcelpost wagon will call at the place designated in the request. An extra charge of 2.38 cents is made for this service, regardless of the size or weight of the package.
Under ordinary circumstances, a package sent from Bremen to Munich, Bavaria, a distance of 470 miles, thus crossing Germany from north to south, will be delivered on the evening of the second or on the morning of the third day. If it weighs up to 11 pounds, it will cost 11.9 cents. If it is a c. o. d. package for $142.80 it will cost 11.9 cents for postage, 2.38 cents for collection fee, 11.9 cents for return money order, and 1.19 cents for delivery charge for the money order, in all 27.37 cents. The same package could be sent at the same rate from Bremen to Königsberg, a distance of 579 miles.
There is no restriction as to the size of the packages to be shipped within the German Empire, as long as they are not cumbersome, but the size of packages to foreign countries, as a rule, must not exceed 23.6 inches in each dimension. Exceptions from this rule are made for goods like umbrellas, canes, charts, furs, plants, etc., which may measure 39.37 inches in length, if they do not exceed 7.87 inches in breadth and height. Besides this there is a space limit of 25 cubic decimeters (1 cubic decimeter = .035 cubic foot) for packages destined for Algiers, Tunis, Santo Domingo, and the French colonies, and 20 cubic decimeters for packages to Bolivia, Brazil, and Canada, while packages for Great Britain and nearly all its colonies may measure one meter in each dimension, with a space limit of 54 cubic decimeters. Packages to foreign countries, exceeding the before-mentioned limit in weight and measurement, may be shipped as “postal freight.” The rates for such shipments, however, vary too much to be quoted here, and they are, in most instances, subject to contracts of the postoffice department with prominent forwarding agents.
For packages to the United States—that is New York, Jersey City, and Hoboken—the charges are from 30 cents for 2.2 pounds up to 64 cents for 11 pounds. To all other places in the United States, Alaska excepted, the rates are 55 cents for 2.2 pounds up to 88 cents for 11 pounds.
According to a postal treaty between the United States and Germany, which is in force since October 1, 1907, packages, which for any reason cannot be delivered will not be returned after a period of thirty days, as heretofore, but the consignor will be informed of this fact by the postoffice in order to give him a chance to dispose of the package in some other way. If the consignor has not disposed of the package within two months it will be returned to him as undeliverable.
For special delivery of a package 5.8 cents is charged, and for urgent packages, which will be forwarded by the fastest mail facilities, a charge of 23.8 cents is made, in addition to the regular postage and the special delivery fee collected for each package.